Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in the Darkness ❯ Racism and Friendship ( Chapter 12 )

Lost in the Darkness

Part 12

Racism and Friendship

Disclaimer: Me no own. So there.

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(A/N) I have to explain this now. I am very well aware that I have been using common Japanese terms for Saiya-Jin, but not all of it! Saiya-Jin is its own language and I will be using a mix of several and then some of my own. I'm aware not all of what I'm using is Japanese and PLEASE don't tell me about it! And if you think it might be, then you'd best double check because it may not be. Thanks. ~*~ Lady Foeseeker ~*~

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Kakarotto looked at his class to see tears, pity, and anger crossing in disarray over their faces. His swallowed nervously and turned towards his seat when someone yelled out, "Hey, slave, why don't you head back to the fields where you belong!"

Kakarotto winced at Matthew's shout as though he had been slapped by his classmate. Hurt and anger danced in his dark eyes. "I am free." He stated calmly. "I am a slave no longer."

Matthew laughed. "Yeah, right."

"Leave him ALONE Matthew!" Leah yelled with a scowl. "He's right. He's free and you have to right to mock his past. After all, we don't mock you about your Daddy being in the slammer for killing you mom."

Matthew paled at the girl's remark. "Shut up, Leah! You don't know nothing about that! You should be sayin' stuff you can't prove…" He trailed off as her point became clear. They didn't hold his past against him, but he was doing it to others.

"But Matt wasn't a slave." Sharpner snorted, tossing his blonde hair. "He was FREE!"

"So? I'm not different then you!" Kakarotto cried, hurt evident in his voice. Before he could say more he shut his mouth and calmly schooled his features in the emotionless look Saiya-Jin warriors are taught from birth.

"You're not?" Sharpner asked, trying to sound innocent. "I think you are. Slave."

Kakarotto clenched his fists but said nothing in his defense. Turning to the class he bowed and went to sit down. Before he reached his seat, however, Sharpner stood up and walked into the aisle. "I didn't give you permission to sit down, slave." He sneered, adding a note of disgust to the word slave.

"You are neither my master nor my maker. Let me pass." Kakarotto snapped in reply.

"No, but my father was, remember that, boy? Loved him didn't you." He sneered.

"Your father gave me almost all of those scars. Now let me pass." Kakarotto's eyes flashed in anger his face fell into a scowl.

"Oh, I'm so afraid. The little slave's gonna hurt me." Sharpner laughed. Many of the other students laughed with him.

"Shut up." The girl who had stood up for him before, Leah, rose to her feet. The tiny girl was at least a foot shorted that the six foot two inch Sharpner and half his size. Her long mousy brown hair fell in waves down her back as she glared at the boy with large brown eyes. She was shaking a bit, her pale skin slightly damp with sweat, but she held her ground.

"Did you tell ME, the great Sharpner to shut up?" He demanded. Not waiting for her to reply, he backhanded her roughly across the face. The girl flew back, overturning her desk and landed in a heap on the floor. Leah gave a little moan of pain.

"How dare you harm some one weaker than yourself." Kakarotto growled. "And especially a female. You may call Saiya-Jins savages as much as you wish, but as long as you dishonor yourselves hurting those weaker then you, you are no better than we."

Leah groaned and sat up, still holding hr head. Sharpner laughed and ignored Kakarotto walking towards the small teen in front of him. He raised his hand again, bringing it down with astonishing speed and force. Leah closed her eyes, waiting for the pain that was bound to come. This wasn't the first time she'd been beaten up. To her surprise, the pain never came.

Her eyes opened and what she saw amazed her: Kakarotto had moved in front of her and blocked the blow. "Don't you ever touch her." He snarled.

Sharpner backed up in surprise, trying to yank his arm free. Leah watched Kakarotto for a moment before intervening. "Don't. It will not prove anything." Leah said softly, putting her hand on Kakarotto's arm. Kakarotto flinched at her touch but nodded.

"As you wish." He agreed, setting Sharpner down none to gently. The class watched in stunned silence. There was more to this than they'd first thought.

"Sharpner!" The teacher yelled. "You are a disgrace! If I ever hear that again, I'll give you detention for the rest of the year!"

Sharpner gave a snort but sat back down in his seat, Kakarotto sitting down next to him with some hesitation. The teacher, however, didn't notice this and said nothing. The few kids in the class that had watched the ordeal without saying a word looked down in shame. Several of them knew the Saiya-Jin from band. Some of the other kids did as well. One of the silent ones stood up. "My I speak, Mr. Lewis?" He asked softly.

"I don't care." The teacher snapped in frustration.

"Kakarotto? I heard what they said, but I am not going to base my opinion of you off a label you couldn't help. It wasn't you're fault what happened and it wasn't mine. But I do regret not saying something sooner. And I think Sharpner ought to be suspended for what he said. You may be Saiya-Jin, but you're one of the nicest people I've met." Chris looked a little embarrassed at the attention he was receiving, but he met Kakarotto's eyes squarely when he said it.

Kakarotto stood slowly and nodded. "E tor marona (I am honored). It means a lot to hear that." As he spoke, he touched his fist to his heart, but did not bow. In Saiya-Jin body language, this meant, `I am honored by your statement'. After a brief pause, both sat down just in time for the bell to ring.
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Kakarotto walked into band class with downcast eyes and a heavy heart. There was no way that the kids in his history class were going to keep quite about this and that would make all the more people mock him. His face fell into the emotionless mask as was common to his people and his eyes latched to the floor as though it was the best thing he'd ever seen.

"Kakarotto! Hey! C'mon! Hello! Is anyone in there?!" Leah, a flute, waved her hand in front of her face.

"Ah! What?!" Kakarotto's head snapped up. He was trembling a bit from the shouting; he always got hit when someone yelled.

"Well, you're kinda ignoring me and I wanted to thank you for earlier. No one has ever stood up for me before." Leah grinned.

"Nata sayis (not a problem). I just don't like seeing people hurt when I can prevent it." He smiled back a bit shyly.

"Well, thanks anyway." She grinned. "Meant a lot. So, um, can we try to be friends? I don't many as nice as you."

"I guess." He stuttered with a smile. The two turned and sat down as the bell rang.

"Hey, Kakarotto!" Dan whispered softly as the conductor's attention shifted to the trumpets. "I heard you were a slave from Matthew. That true?"

"So what if it is?" Kakarotto half-snapped in reply.

"Calm down! I just wondered! I've never met a free slave before." He raised his hands. "Peace."

"Well, technically, I'm not free. I won't be until I'm twenty-one, but because my father owns me, I am considered free as a minor. Should I end up back in bondage, however, I will be free at twenty-one by law. It doesn't matter what happens, I'll be free because I was promised and registered free at twenty-one." He explained to his class-mate and fellow tuba.

"That's pretty cool. I hope you stay here, though. I'm glad you're free. You're a nice guy." Dan smiled.

"Thanks." Kakarotto grinned. "Do you think anyone else will mind?"

"Naw. Well, maybe some, but I don't think a lot will because they got a chance to know you first." He grinned back and turned toward the director as Mr. Trani called the band's attention.

Kakarotto knelt down to put away his tuba later that day in a pretty good mood, though it didn't last long. Half a dozen kids asked him, in rather rapid secession, if the rumors were true. Finally, in total exasperation, Kakarotto stood up and yelled out, "Hey, BAND!"

The results were instantaneous. Every one shut up. "Would you all PLEASE stop asking me if I was a slave! The answer's NOT going to change no matter how many times you ask!"

One kid, a trombone call Pete, finally broke the silence. "Well, are you?"

Kakarotto gave a low growl about being put on the spot and slowly nodded his head. "Hai. I am." The reactions were mixed. Some of the kids closest backed away while some of the ones farther back got closer. Some of his friends shook their heads and frowned.

"Get out of here you freak!" Pete yelled fearfully. "We don't want your kind here!"

"Shut up, Pete!" Kelsey yelled. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, every one of you that backed away! You know Kakarotto and you know how nice he is! Now cut it out! Just because you know more about his past than you used to doesn't mean he's changed!" Several looked down shamefaced and nodded their agreement. They should never had done what they did.
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Vegita's eyes fluttered open the next day and the first thing he was aware of was that he was holding something in his arms. He drew it closer before he realized what- or who rather- it was. And when he did, he nearly screamed. He was holding his master in his arms. She was an angel, he'd admit it, but she was still his master. He was so dead!
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Bulma gave a content sigh as she felt someone's strong comforting arms around her, holding her close. She could hear his heart beat. Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself looking up to see who was holding her. For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, black eyes met blue. Both lost themselves in the depth of the other's eyes. Vegita broke the sacred moment first.

"Forgive me, milady!" He cried out, letting her go and jumping out of the bed. "I didn't mean to-!" His eyes widened in panic. If her father heard, he'd surly be killed. "I- I'll get you your breakfast!" He whirled and raced from the room.

Bulma stared in shock at the door. "'Geta, I'd never hurt you." She whispered softly.
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Vegita sprinted down the corridors of the house towards the kitchen, cursing himself for being so weak around the woman. And now there was nothing he could do. One thing he couldn't change. He was bound to the woman and there was nothing he could do about it.

~ How could I? ~ He raged to himself. ~ A HUMAN! Am I forgetting what they did to my people? To me? ~ But even as he thought it, he knew it wasn't entirely true. His blue angel hadn't done anything to him or his people and she couldn't change what her people had done. With a cry he stumbled into the small closet that was his only refuge. He drew his knees up to his chest and began to cry. He cried for the past that didn't exist and for the future he couldn't have. He cried for the people he'd lost and the people that were lost to him. He cried, for the first time, for his family. And he cried for the future that couldn't possibly take place.
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(A/N) Hey! All done! Aren't you glad? I am! So, hope you liked! And review! I didn't meet my goal, I was two off, but hopefully I'll get the two I want! So, R/R! Please!

Ja ne!
~*~ Lady Foeseeker ~*~